


Empty Chairs

by princessoftheworlds



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode: s02e13 Exit Wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessoftheworlds/pseuds/princessoftheworlds
Summary: Gwen tends to Ianto's wound.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper & Ianto Jones
Kudos: 22





	Empty Chairs

**Author's Note:**

> Self-explanatory! Enjoy!

Ianto hisses, gritting his teeth, as Gwen dabs the deep gouge on his arm with disinfecting wipe. “Careful,” he chides. “You could be a bit more gentle.”

Gwen stills, her eyes hardening into a glare. Her voice is angry when she speaks, “And you could stand to be a little less reckless, Ianto!”

“Someone had to distract the Malvians,” he points out, although he sounds a bit sheepish. “Or else they would have taken over Cardiff.”

“Jack,” begins Gwen, frowning, “was on his way with half of UNIT. He could have taken care of it. All we had to do was stall. Not go right ahead and rugby-tackle the lead Malvian.” She tosses the blood-stained wipe into the rubbish bin and reaches for the healing accelerant spray that was a favorite of Owen’s. “Hold still. This will sting.”

“Any more than the wipe?” he teases. “It can’t- _oh, fuck!_ ” He grimaces, flinching away as Gwen mists some of the spray directly onto his wound, but she holds him still. It burns like ants crawling under his skin. They both watch in fascination as the skin slowly begins to knit itself back together. Soon, all Ianto can feel is a slight tingle.

Gwen caps the spray and places it back in the cupboard where she found it. Ianto slips from the table he was seated at and watches her tidy the autopsy bay back together.

“I miss Owen,” Gwen whispers finally. “He should have been the one to do this to you.”

Ianto nods. “I miss Tosh. She would have hacked into the Malvian ship the moment they arrived on Earth and rerouted them for Mars.”

It’s been months since Tosh and Owen died, but their ghosts still linger in the Hub. Ianto will still find himself brewing five coffees. Gwen will venture to the autopsy bay to tease a Owen who is no longer there. Jack’s hollow gaze will travel over the empty chairs in their conference room.

There’s a gaping wound in their team, but unlike Ianto’s cut, it can’t be healed by an accelerant spray. It will take time.

“You know what?” Ianto says softly. “Jack will still be in London tonight, arguing with UNIT about their response time. You and Rhys should come over. We can watch old rugby games and break into one of his frozen lasagnas.” 

Gwen smiles melancholically, laugh lines around her eyes wrinkling for the first time in a long while. “That sounds wonderful, Ianto.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](http://princess-of-the-worlds.tumblr.com/) or on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/rajkumarinik). I tweet and reblog mostly Torchwood with occasionally amusing commentary on nonsense. Please come talk to me and tell me if/how much you like my fic or like ask me about it on tumblr; all my schoolwork has become remote now, and I have limited social interaction.


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